We are spending five weeks exploring Fabric’s five core values. These aren’t the core values we would like, but what has been at work all along when we were at our best. This one is “Share Warmth.”

February 13 - At the Core: Share Warmth When all is said and done, too much was probably said and done and we likely didn’t do enough of just being with each other. A pot of tea, a note to a friend - or an enemy - letting them know they are loved. The world of acceptance and welcome do not suffer from scarcity, but from miserliness. That’s why sharing warmth is at Fabric’s core. We are here for each other, and all those who aren’t here yet. Is it rubbing off on you?

Your true self is the person you experience in yourself when you are in the presence of someone who fully accepts you as you are. It is our dream that Fabric would be a community that does that for one another. This is the kind of thinking that is behind this Fabric Core Value, “Share Warmth.”

If you are new to this conversation and want to learn more about CORE VALUES than are presented here, listen to the first seven minutes of the Jan 14 podcast on “Choose Connection.” LINK

Here are some words and ideas that Share Warmth is meant to include. Add your own!

Welcome   Belonging   Neighbors not Strangers

Hospitality   Acceptance   Giving   Healing   Generosity


A land acknowledgment of the Dakota land Fabric is located in. How does that history of destruction of a land and its people reflect the welcome those white ancestors received and what they did with it? What about our relationship today?

Churches have long practiced a process of BEHAVE then BELIEVE then BELONG.

It should be a process of BELONG then BELIEVE then BEHAVE.

Question: If you have been part of Fabric, how were you received when you first arrived? Were you welcome? What made you think you could belong? What encouraged you to come back? What obstacles did you have to figure out? How do you express welcome to others?

A conversation with Katy Lesiak on her Fabric welcome and how she experienced acceptance.

Jesus and his understanding of “neighbor.”

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 19.18, Matthew 22.39, Mark 12.31, Luke 10.27

The Parable of the Good Samaritan. “Who among those three proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robber? Luke 10.36

“Whatever you have done for the least of these my sisters and brothers, you have done to me.”  Matthew 25.31-46

A Fabric Mantra: “Fabric is made up mostly of people who aren’t here yet.”

We are an OUTWARD FACING community.

The 3-Minute Rule: For the first 3 minutes after the gathering only talk with people you don’t know.

Why? 

  1. It builds community. 

  2. New people leave within the first 3 minutes. 

  3. Your friends will wait for you!

The ancient Hebrews were probably the ‘Apiru. Nomadic people who were being displaced by the great nation states of their time. They saw each other as neighbors and banded together. At their core were these teachings:

“You shall love the stranger, for you were once strangers in the land of Egypt.”      Deuteronomy 10.19

“I am the LORD (I Am Who I Am) who watches over the strangers; who upholds the orphan and the widow.” Psalm 146.9

We do not welcome the stranger because we are supposed to, but because it is how fabric is woven. Tightly, inseparably; a tapestry of variety, complexity and beauty.

Sharing Warmth is an antidote to our conflict and division. We cannot overcome our divisions with arguments or by demanding conformity, but by acknowledging our common humanity and listening to each other’s stories, not our positions.

Sharing Warmth can require forgiveness. Not to let injustice continue unchecked, but to free yourself from the power of it, and so that you can thaw the heart of another.

SONG: If You’re Here, by Chris Tripolino

What is at your core? 

  • Don’t worry if your Core Values are confusing and hard to get a handle on. 

  • Don’t worry that your Core Values don’t sound sexy or terribly lofty.

  • Don’t worry if you don’t always live up to Core Values.

  • Don’t worry that your Core Values seem to shift or change over time.

They all stem from the simple idea that you matter and that what you do matters. 
Be yourself. The longer you live with what is most important to you at your core, the more your true self will be the one you and the world will know.

Mentioned in the podcast: Care IQ